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Making America's Best Idea Even Better
Mesa Verde National ParkView of Spruce Tree House from above.
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Mesa Verde National Park
Directions

Plane

The nearest airports are Cortez, Colorado, Durango, Colorado, and Farmington, New Mexico.

Car

Mesa Verde National Park is in Southwestern Colorado. The Mesa Verde Headquarters is a one-hour drive from Cortez, Colorado, heading east on Highway 160 to the park turnoff, and a 1.5 hour drive from Durango, Colorado, heading west on Highway 160 to the park turnoff.

Public Transportation

The closest bus terminal is located in Durango, Colorado. Car rental is needed to get from the bus terminal to the park. The entrance to Mesa Verde is 35 miles from Durango.

Getting Around

A vehicle is needed to see Mesa Verde.

The first view of a cliff dwelling is 21 miles (approximately 45 minutes) past the entrance station along a steep, narrow, winding road.
Cliff Palace in the snow  

Did You Know?
Cliff Palace is the largest cliff dwelling at Mesa Verde National Park. It has 150 rooms, plus an additional 75 open areas. Twenty-one of the rooms are kivas, and 25 to 30 rooms have residential features. The number of Ancestral Puebloans living in Cliff Palace at any one time was 100 to 120.

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Last Updated: July 25, 2006 at 00:23 EST